Wales U20s beaten by Ireland in entertaining battle despite storming start

Wales U20s lost 48-33 to their Irish counterparts in an entertaining contest in Cork on Saturday night.

Richard Whiffin’s side flew out of the blocks to score two tries in the opening seven minutes but their lead was short-lived as Ireland hit back with four first-half tries of their own to seal a bonus point before the break.

The hosts started where they left off and stretched their lead moments after the restart, but Caio James kept Wales in it with tries either side of a brilliant solo effort from the impressive Irish wing Daniel Ryan.

However, Duinn Maguire's try less than 15 minutes from time gave too much for the visitors to do, despite Tom Bowen crossing for his second try of the night moments later.

There were mistakes from both sides but Wales were let down by their accuracy and discipline on more than one occasion, and they will need to fix it if they are to end their campaign on a high against Italy next weekend.

A storming start saw Wales win a lineout inside the Irish 22, with a superb driving maul off the back of it allowing hooker Tom Howe to crash over to open the scoring.

It got even better minutes later as Bowen seized on a loose Irish pass, thumping the ball downfield for Evan Minto to chase. The number eight won the footrace and laid the ball back to Bowen, who darted over from close range.

Having gone two tries down inside seven minutes, the hosts were startled but soon composed themselves, with slick hands off the back of a lineout allowing Ryan to cross in the corner and put his side on the board.

Momentum began to shift midway through the half, with Osian Darwin-Lewis sent to the sin bin for knocking the ball forward as he attempted to intercept a crucial Irish pass.

A man down, Wales conceded two more